Note ban: ED attaches assets worth Rs 6.84 Cr of Tandon, Lodha

The Enforcement Directorate today attached assets worth over Rs 6.84 crore, including Rs 5.66 crore in new notes, of businessman Paras Mal Lodha, lawyer Rohit Tandon and others in a money laundering case.
The attachment includes Rs 2.52 crore in the name of Kolkata-based businessman Lodha and Rs 3.14 crore in the name of Delhi-based lawyer Tandon, seized during searches carried out by probe agencies after demonetisation.
The agency issued a provisional attachment order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), terming the assets as the "proceeds of crime" acquired by illegal exchange of old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

It had issued a similar order against Tandon a few days ago when it had attached assets worth Rs 41.65 crore in his name and that of a suspended private bank manager.
The seized cash is at present in the custody of the Income Tax Department.
Both Lodha and Tandon have been arrested by the ED in this case and are in its custody.

"Investigation conducted so far revealed that after the announcement of the demonetisation policy, Lodha, along with others, illegally exchanged demonetised currency notes of Tandon and others into monetised form on commission basis" with the help of a number of people including hawala operators.

"It was also revealed that Lodha illegally exchanged more than Rs 20 crore of Tondon and others on commission basis," it said in a statement.
The ED took over the case and registered an FIR under the PMLA after taking cognisance of an FIR filed by Delhi Police's crime branch in the matter after the latter carried out raids on a law firm related to Tandon and recovered cash worth Rs 13.65 crore, with Rs 2.62 crore in new notes.
An attachment order under the PMLA is aimed at depriving the accused from obtaining illegal benefits of their ill-gotten assets and such an order can be appealed by the affected party before the Adjudicating Authority of the said Act within 180 days.

The agency also filed a charge sheet against Lodha in a court here today.